Just 11 percent of respondees to a survey about new Apple products plan to buy an Apple Watch, according to 6,000 people quizzed by Canadian investment bank, RBC Capital Markets.
A further 24 percent said they were uncertain. Given that Apple Watch is Apple’s first major new product category since the iPad this is bad news if it carries through to the tech-buying customer base at large.
While it’s far from good for Apple, however, it’s also not entirely unsurprising. The smart watch/wearables industry has remained relatively niche up until now, with other rival products like the Samsung Galaxy Gear proving to be flops in the market place.
As impressive as the Apple Watch looked when Tim Cook demoed it on September 9, Apple still has yet to provide compelling reasons why customers would want a smart watch, particularly with reported high price points, low battery life, and a significant crossover with iPhone functionality.
A recent report suggested that Apple is aiming to sell 50 million of the Apple Watch in 2015, which if accurate would make it the top-selling iOS family device in history, with significantly higher sales than both the iPhone and iPad in their first years.
RBC Capital Markets’ survey also suggested that just 16 percent of survey participants intend on using Apple Pay when it becomes available, while 47 percent report “mixed feelings” about it. As with the Apple Watch, NFC payments are not a new area, and other companies including Google have been exploring it with limited success for several years now.
Although both of these technologies could certainly benefit from the so-called “halo effect” that comes with Apple products, would-be customers are understandably cautious about product categories that have proven unsuccessful so far. It’s worth pointing out, of course, that very few of Apple’s breakthrough hits: the Mac, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad have proven to be overnight success stories
The survey wasn’t all disappointing news, though. It reported very strong demand for the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus, both of which officially launch today. 27 percent of survey respondees were Android users, planning to make the jump to Apple’s ecosystem with the company’s new handsets.
Source: Market Watch
Via: GforGames
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
45 responses to “No one wants the watch we begged Apple to make”
Bad news? lol! wow.. you do know it was worse with the iPad? right? talk about sensationalist blogging!
Not to mention Apple Watch has no mind share yet.. Which is why the ‘surveys’ for the iPad were so dismal as well.. most people don’t even know about an Apple ‘watch’ still.. it’s mostly in the tech industry..
If life was all a survey, humanity would be dead, and written off as a bad idea.
Its sort of funny, didn’t blackberrys RIM think the same about the first iPhone?
Ironic the survey was done in Canada…
It’s the way Apple is doing NFC payments. Never having my real number or even my name. Phone stolen no need to cancel cards as the numbers aren’t on there. It’s game changing. This Target and Home Depot wouldn’t affect Apple Pay users
yup.. Watch, once people start doing NFC with Apple Pay, they will start warming up to a watch that can do the same thing. Halo effect, Apple’s very good at that.
People may or may not use Apple Pay, we’ll have to wait and see on that, but to suggest that people will buy a device costing at least $350 just to make payments is ridiculous. Apple Pay will not be a driver for Apple Watch sales in any way (nor will it drive iPhone sales), the watch will have to stand on its own merit for people to buy it.
I have to agree. Paying with one touch on your phone is so much easier than dealing with cards, no one is going to think “gee, wouldn’t it be great if I didn’t even have to pull out my phone!” Plus I guarantee people will feel silly paying with their wrist (at least in the beginning).
The health/fitness tracking is going to be the big selling point (especially when combined with all the convenient features of a smartwatch, like notifications). But Apple will need to add a few more sensors (for things like blood oxygen and glucose levels) and significantly increase the battery life (so that you can track sleep as well as exercise) before 50 million people will be willing to fork over $350-$500.
Ridiculous is only in the mind of the beholder. People line up to get this stuff because they just flat out like it. So paying $350 for a watch is relative. I would say it is ridiculous to pay $15,000 for a Rolex but who am I to say.
I accept your general point here but I was really discussing mass-market adoption/achieving the kind of sales volumes that shareholders/3rd party developers and the media would be expecting from an Apple product. You live in a fantasy land if you think the majority of consumers would be driven to buy a $350 device for the sole purpose of making contactless payments. The Apple Watch will primarily be bought for another reason (health/notification functions/you buy every apple product/you actually like the industrial design) the Apple Pay part is just secondary functionality that adds value.
Yes, the Apple Watch will have to stand on it’s own merits. Apple Pay is one of several features that makes up those merits. It’s not likely that any one of its features would sway many people to buy it. But, collectively, the market is much, much greater. A classic case of “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”
And yes I’m getting an Apple Watch mostly for Apple Pay. And the fitness
What do Canadians know anyways ;)
They know a LOT about Hockey!
The asked the wrong people in the wrong country. I am getting two of them. Also many of my friends are too.
I was excited about it when I saw it, but I’ll be waiting for the Apple Watch 2. I think Apple releasing a much better second version of their new hardware has finally caught up to them and I think many people are in the same boat as me. Next years Apple Watch will be amazing. This one is the Prototype.
We have heard that before, but it makes no sense. Apple Watch 1 is probably the 18th internal iteration and Apple Watch 2 is the 19th. Of course the next version will be better, but why not wait for the Apple Watch 6? It will be amazing!
I meant specifically the 1st and 2nd gen of the hardware for a reason.
The iPhone and the iPhone 2 were vastly different. Every iPhone after 2 has just built upon and build upon the 2nd model. Same with the iPad. The 2nd iPad is still useable, the originally can’t even be updated with the new OS’s that come out.
Hell it even goes back with the iPods. The second version is always vastly superior with every preceding version built upon it and not the original. Like I said the first one always feels like a prototype.
I’m buying one without a doubt.
“Apple still has yet to provide…”
Sorry to be pedantic (I know it’s annoying, I just can’t help myself), but “still has yet” is redundant. It should just say “Apple has yet to provide…” or “Apple still has not provided…”
Sites that wish to be considered serious journalist outlets need to use proper grammar.
“No one wants the watch we begged Apple to make”
Congratulations! Aiming for an inane headline and BS story, you’ve topped the list.
This morning I saw a “story” on CNBC online entitled, “Many believe Apple has lost it’s coolness.” Its so-called basis was some 29 year-old woman who thinks the company “is not as innovative as when Steve Jobs was still alive.” I didn’t think I’d read a stupider story than that. Little did I know.
No one really begged Apple to make a smart watch. It was more like “Hey wearable tech is the future …Apple needs to get into this market” from the Press followed by Samsung trying to beat Apple to the market (which they did).
Apple Watch will be a slow riser. It’s going to take a few iterations to get the battery life to ideal 3-5 days of life. I see it as a decent but expensive addition to those with a 6+ that don’t want to pull their phone out just to see and reply to notifications.
350 is not expensive for a watch folks. It ain’t a Maurice Lecroix folks.
$350 is not expensive for haute horology people. But people who buy IWC, Omega, Patek, Audemart Piguet, Blancpain, Hublot, Panerai, etc are not the market for this watch. They aren’t going to wake up one day and think ” ohh my god, why have I been spending car money on extremely complex hand made mechanical watches? This apple watch tells time better.”
The market for this are the people who buy “fashion watches” the 100-300 dollar Guess, Kenneth Cole, Fossil, Nine West, Timberland, Oakley and such.
They are also going for people who never bought watches.
So for the market they can potentially get, $350 is on the high side.
The quality does seem to be there. And if it was waterproof I would probably get one.
“Only”?? You DO realise that’s about 34.5 MILLION units, right?
For a product that does not yet exist…
Now, assuming all 34.5 million buy the basic $350 USD, we’re looking at Billions and billions… how does this make your statement true?
You’re counting every man, woman and child in the U.S. To be fair, the market is more likely limited to middle teens and adults. But, you aren’t counting the population of all the other countries that will be getting the Apple Watch as well. That makes Apple’s 50 million unit prediction seem to agree with this 11%.
Ok. I see you didn’t pick up on the sarcasm…
When I read it, I sincerely thought this was a sarcastic piece…
So… my point was to demonstrate precisely what you’re saying…
I don’t know, 11% of the population, for a totally new product and product category that hasn’t come out yet sounds pretty good to me. In 2008, there were 228 million adults in the US. 11% of that is 25 million. That’s not a number to scoff at.
” totally new product and product category”
Yep. Apple have invented the digital watch.
Sweeping stupid statements. Ugh I hate dumb journalism.
I’m planning on getting one. The fitness component is quite compelling, as is Apple Pay. I also like the thought of finally having a way to access my phone when traveling that doesn’t make my phone a target.
I would get one, but I don’t have an iPhone. If the next version of the iPad will work with the Apple Watch, I’m on board.
I can almost guarantee that won’t happen. The watch needs your iPhone’s GPS and data connection. And Apple isn’t going to give the watch it’s own cellular radio because that would cannibalize iPhone sales.
I have been waiting for the Apple Watch. The problem is the price. HOLY CRAP $400 for the basic? My wife has the Samsung watch and loves it. It cost $185 and the Apple Watch (to be truly honest) does not do that much more than it. If Apple’s entry price was $250 I would be up in the middle of the night to pre-order. But I need a ton more convincing to spend that much money.
349, 400 same thing. I’ll take that $51 if you’re not using it.
400 dollars is the perfect starting off price. It’s something most people can afford, unlike a 100k Patek, or even a 10k Rolex but it’s also expensive enough that not everyone will be able to justify buying one, Which will increase its perceived value.
11% of 330,000,000 is 36,300,000.
Hardly no one.
Oops. Missed the thing about Canada.
Try doing the survey in the US.
Try doing the survey away from an Apple store.
but what about the other millions of folks. This is just the option of 6k folks. Who knows what everyone else thinks. They might all be creaming their shorts wanting the watch
I intend to buy one.
Actually, I only saw all these bloggers wanting one. It looks good as watches go, but $350 for another device I have to charge every day, and replace after 2-3 years, no thanks.
Nobody is better in misinterpretation of survey results than a tech blogger. 11% wants a new product category before seeing it in person or even touching it. Instead, I would say that Apple seems to turn everything they touch into gold.
If I could introduce a $400+ product and sell *only* 11% of the population in the first year, I’d be happy with that success. If we take the 50 million number that Apple helps to sell and then take 11% of the purchasing population in the markets they plan to sell I’d say those numbers line up pretty well. It wouldn’t be much of a long-term market if everyone bought one the first year.
I know a lot of people here in the great white north who know what an Apple Watch is, know what it looks like, but have no clue what it does. And the only people I know who want one, don’t have an iPhone …so there’s that.
i think the Apple watch is going to do well …it is a watch where as the “Gear” looked more like a toy.. id get it, prob never talk on it but id def make use of the other features
Right now i have zero interest in one. I stopped wearing a watch back in 1999 when the band on my calculator watch (yeah) broke… or more accurately, the whole case broke where the band attached. It took two weeks for a replacement watch to arrive and by the time it did, I no longer cared to wear it. I used my phone to check the time and stuff.
Once the thing is out and people see what all you can do with it, maybe my opinion will change. I do think the thing needs a camera built into it… video too.
It’s got nothing to do with the watch, or with Apple. 10-15% of human beings are early adopters of any new technology, regardless of what the new “thing” is. It’s not the watch; it’s us.